San Jose meeting part of wider government focus on tech's role in counterterrorism

The White House and State Department each issued updates Friday on their counter-terrorism efforts within hours of a San Jose meeting of top government officials and tech company executives to explore how they can work together in the wake of terrorist attacks in San Bernardino and Paris.

Reflecting the focus of the San Jose meeting, both Washington counterterrorism announcements had a heavy focus on the use of technology and enlisting the help of the technology sector.

The State Department announced a new Global Engagement Center, headed by Michael D. Lumpkin, currently assistant secretary of defense for special operations/low-intensity conflict, that “will more effectively coordinate, integrate and synchronize messaging to foreign audiences that undermines the disinformation espoused by violent extremist groups and provide an alternative to [ISIS’s] nihilistic vision.”

The tech executives were convened Friday morning in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office inside San Jose City Hall where they discussed terrorists’ use of social media and encryption (according to an agenda published by The Guardian) and how tech – especially social media – could be employed in oppostion.

That meeting was secret until Reuters revealed it Thursday and said Twitter executives would attend. The Silicon Valley Business Journal subsequently got confirmation from Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and Yahoo that they, too, would participate in the meeting.

Monaco claimed counterterrorism successes that have stopped “countless terrorist plots” but she said the threats and, and the government’s responses, are evolving.

“Terrorist groups are using technology to spread their hateful ideology to recruit young people across continents and here at home,” she said.

Her blog post said the government will focus on empowering community efforts to broaden the sense of shared responsibility to prevent at-risk people from turning to violence, counter terrorist messaging “in close collaboration with the private sector, particularly media and technology companies,” and work to better understand and address the causes of radicalization.

The State Department’s announcement also highlighted the tech sector in its implementation strategy, saying its global engagement center will, among other things, seek “the best talent, within the technology sector, government and beyond” and provide seed funding to media startups focused on countering terrorist messaging.